Death of Lola: A Story by Beth Hart

The Death of Lola

On December 5th 2006 Lola, a '93 Ford Escort station wagon (green), was officially declared dead. Lola was brought in to a ford dealership for regular inspection before another of her many road trips, only to find that she had already driven her last. The mechanics declared that the radiator absolutely had to be replaced (severely leaking), and that oil was leaking out of the engine. These were only the most dire of a series of ailments. Various belts were cracked, spark plugs needed to be changed and whatnot for a total of $2000 repair cost. It would theoretically have been possible to continue driving the car with a new radiator and just adding oil, but it would have blown up at some point, probably in the middle of Oklahoma or on a narrow mountain pass.

Despite this dire prognosis, valiant attempts were still made to revitalize her by Mark Perry, aided by Beth Hart. Upon attempting to make the repairs themselves, they found that the oil leak was not where the ford mechanics had predicted, but rather deep inside the engine, which would require days of difficult work, impossible for either party. So with her timing chain on the ground, accompanied by various bolts, belts, and strangely shaped metal objects, Lola was declared dead.

Lola faithfully served two owners of the Hart family, but is best known for her exploits between '99 and '06. Lola saw the Pacific and the Atlantic at least three times a piece. She traversed the both Rockies and the Appalachians. She careened over dirt paths across the country to find hot springs, archaeological sites, and campgrounds. Lola could do a three point turn on a mountain cliff road and parallel park in the tiniest of spaces. She fought with the traffic in major metropolitan cities including, Detroit, Chicago, New York, Denver, Miami, LA, and Boston. One wild night she even accidentally went to Tijuana. She provided shelter for sleep on more than a few occasions. Mud stains can still be seen on the ceiling from when she had to be pushed out of a low spot near Woodstock. One of her proudest moments came in a whirlwind five day trip from MI to Arizona to rescue Alice Birney and company. Lola never met an amount of luggage or number of people that she couldn't accommodate. All at 30-35 mi/gallon.

Later in her life long periods of idleness may have prolonged her years of use, but more likely led to her demise with dry rot and rust. Flat tires and broken struts harassed her last few months. At about 197,000 miles on the odometer, no one can say that she gave less than her all. She was the best of cars, and any car that comes after her will have some big tracks to fill.